Photos from one guy's travels around the world -- from UNESCO World Heritage Sites to national parks to his own backyard in Texas, and lots of places in between.

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Grand Canyon Sunrise

Sunset at the Grand Canyon was beautiful, even with a cloudless sky. So naturally I planned to return the next morning for sunrise, even though it was scheduled for the rather unpleasant time of 5:24 a.m. That's what happens when you don't observe Daylight Savings Time, as is the case in most of Arizona. Ugh.

My morning came complete with an unpleasant reminder about the perils of planning to shoot from locations you haven't actually scouted. I intended to set up at Yaki Point, which from a look at the park map I'd estimated to be roughly the same distance from the Visitor Center parking lot as Yavapai Point where I'd gone for sunset. I should have paid more attention to where it clearly read "Map Not to Scale," because after 30 minutes of walking I appeared to not even be halfway to the point, and dawn was just 15 minutes away.

Fortunately, it's the Grand Canyon. There simply aren't any bad vistas. So I turned back, keeping an eye on both the brightening horizon and the canyon's edge for interesting compositions. I found a spot I liked, set up, and began shooting.

I did a lot more bracketing of my shots on this trip than I had in the past, then merging them in post-production. The combination of the setting and time of day pretty much required it if I didn't want either completely blown-out skies or pitch black foregrounds. The price seemed to be very little contrast at all. I clearly still have work to do to hone my skills.

This one I like, though. Vibrant color, some nice dark trees on the closest canyon wall giving way to very soft bands of color in the distance, and the first ray of sun peeking through a notch in the north rim. It's a keeper. :)

Once the sun had cleared the north rim I turned my attention to elements of the south rim that were benefiting from the warm light of the golden hour.

In hindsight, I see where some shots would benefit from having a person in them for scale. Though I'm not exactly sure who would be willing to walk out on this narrow escarpment, 'cuz it wouldn't be me.

As the sun rose higher the shadows filled in more and more. But there was still plenty of contrast to keep the scene from getting too flat.

I loved this lone plant growing tall and proud right on the canyon's lip, seemingly emanating straight out of the rock itself. The morning light hits it just right to stand out crisply from the canyon wall still in shadow in the background.

I had originally planned on shooting sunrise both days that we were there. But in a rare case of ignoring my own advice to take full advantage of opportunities when I have them, I decided my experience this morning was so good I didn't need to come back again quite so early. :)